Yesterday Gordon Brown’s government announced that it would be putting off the reform of the House of Lords that has already been put off several times before. Obviously it is a very complicated and contentious issue, and it may be a good decision to wait until after the next general election so there is more of a national consensus about what should be done (among other things this may prevent a potential constitutional crisis by making the current Lords members feel more pressure to accept the final proposal.

One point in The Guardian’s report reminded me of the truly odd and ironic nature of the British Government:

In March the Commons voted overwhelmingly, in a free vote, for a 100% elected Lords, and with a 38-vote majority for an 80% elected Lords. There was a 280 vote majority for removing the remaining 92 hereditary peers, left over from the previous attempt at Lords reform in 1999.

In a bizarre paradox, those 92 hereditary peers are, in fact, the only elected members of the Lords, as their places were endorsed in a ballot of their fellow hereditary peers when the government got rid of 900-plus Lords eight years ago.

The complete article from The Guardian“Straw to unveil Lords reform plans”